Scott Tolzien’s preseason debut – rough then WHOA then aww…

Last night, professional football returned. Preseason (fake) professional football, maybe, but football nonetheless. The nation rejoiced, with many tuning their televisions to the Worldwide Leader in Sports to watch a 7-9 playoff team take on a 9-7 team that missed the playoffs. The populace threw open their windows, shouting “Football is back!” across the land, as if the gridiron had been vacant for a decade-plus.

This brings me to a quick aside: doesn’t it seem like the lockout is going to turn out to be a HUGE boost for the NFL, at least in the immediate present? I never thought there was any risk that regular-season games would be lost, or even come close to being threatened. But after a lockout took over the summer and made it seem like everything was in jeopardy, now that it’s over, everything gets a boost from the “It’s back!” mantra. In reality, the best thing for NFL popularity and attention might have been to extend the lockout right up until the regular season began, at which point people would be so freaked out that they would flock back when it finally showed up. Of course, the NFL is so wildly popular, with such a high baseline of viewership and attention, that the difference between this year and any other year might actually be negligible. But hearing “Football’s back!” a couple of times an hour seems strange when nothing was really missed.

Back to business. As far as Badger fans are concerned, the preseason offers at least one advantage: a chance to see rookies from the UW play extended minutes, and they didn’t have to wait long as quarterback Scott Tolzien took over the San Diego offense after halftime in their game against the Seattle Seahawks. Tolzien’s first three passes fell incomplete, and those stood as his only attempts in the 3rd quarter after Bryan Walters returned a Seattle kickoff 103 yards for a score.

Tolzien recorded his first positive play early in the fourth quarter when he took off running for a 3 yard gain in the Chargers’ first 4th quarter series, but he gave that ground right back when he was sacked on the next play. Tolzien completed his first pass on the Chargers’ next possession, a four-yard dump-off to undrafted rookie FB Dean Rogers, but the offense was stuffed on third and short and forced to punt, the fourth consecutive three-and-out for Tolzien. Seattle drove the field for a game-tying touchdown on their next drive. With the score tied, Tolzien went down under pressure and coughed up the ball with just under four minutes remaining in the game. Seattle ran in the go-ahead score on their ensuing possession, and Tolzien faced a three-minute drive to tie it up. That’s when Scott went to work.

Beginning at his own 30 yard line, Tolzien scrambled for five yards and threw incomplete on second down. Then, in a bold display of clutchiness, Tolzien completed four straight passes, earning three first-downs and driving the Chargers all the way to the Seahawk’s 12 yard line. Crowded up in the red zone, however, Tolzien found the going tough. More than just a general “speed of the game”, Tolzien appeared flummoxed by the speed of the defensive backfield, seeing his passes knocked away by defenders who quickly closed already small windows. With second and three to go at the Seattle 5 yard line, Tolzien missed on three consecutive passes, including an egregious overthrow through the endzone as he rolled out to the right. Seattle took over and downs and claimed the victory.

All in all, it was about what one might expect from an undrafted rookie in his first professional appearance. Tolzien obviously isn’t likely to see much playing time at all during the regular season. So keep an eye on the Chargers this preseason, since it’s likely to be your last Scott Tolzien viewing experience for some time.